A niche blog dedicated to the issues that arise when supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) extend patents beyond their normal life -- and to the respective positions of patent owners, investors, competitors and consumers. The blog also addresses wider issues that may be of interest or use to those involved in the extension of patent rights. You can email The SPC Blog here

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

For those interested in UKIPO decisions, here is a link to a recent decision (BL O/117/16) from the IPO which looks at 2 specific points:

(i)Can the End of Procedure Communication from the RMS as part of the Decentralised Procedure (DCP) for granting MAs act as means to show that a valid authorisation has been granted for the medicinal product – as required by Art 3(b) of the SPC regulation; and

(ii)can an SPC for a combination, based on the same patent but later MA, be granted when the SPC for the monoproduct has already been granted using an Earlier MA but the same basic patent. Recent CJEU case law was considered (Sanofi, C-433/12, and Boehringer, C-577/13) to work out if more than one SPC can be granted based on same patent.

Bianca-Lucia Vos and Klemens Stratmann of Hoffmann-Eitle have generously provided a copy of a recent decision of the Higher Regional Court o...

Forthcoming events

1 December 2015: "Competition Law in the Pharma Sector Conference", Brussels. Organised by IBC legal. Click here for further details and registration. You can enjoy a 10% saving by quoting VIP code FKW82593SPCL.